Unilateral vs multilateral: Israel’s policy choice

Rabbi Dr. Warren Goldstein, Chief Rabbi of South Africa, warned in a July Jerusalem Post article, that Israel cannot depend on the United States and the West, regarding a possible nuclear attack by Iran. He suggested that Israel should unilaterally attack Iran’s nuclear facilities and destroy them. He points out that Iran is only a few weeks away from a nuclear capability.

This threat from Iran is existential. Iranian clerics and IRGC officials have already threatened to wipe out Israel, and on this past April 13, Iran directly attacked Israel with 300 missiles and drones. This attack, which was telegraphed by Iran, was completely repulsed by Israel’s excellent defensive shield-the Arrow 2, Arrow 3, David’s Sling and Iron Dome. But the response to Iran’s attack was multilateral: America, Britain, France, and yes, some Arab countries (Jordan and Saudi Arabia), assisted in taking out Iran’s missile and drone attack.

Rabbi Goldstein argues that Israel cannot count on her defensive shield in the case of an Iranian nuclear attack. And Israel cannot rely on Iran’s moral inhibitions. Iran is a violent Shi’ite jihadist state and would quite likely attempt to do the evil deed of destroying Israel. He points out that Prime Minister Menachem Begin acting unilaterally, sent the IAF to bomb the Osirak Nuclear Reactor in Iraq, which was done successfully in 1981.

However, circumstances are not the same now. The world is much closer together now, in large part due to technology. There are aspects of the Iranian situation that Rabbi Goldstein may not be considering. Firstly, the Iranian nuclear infrastructure is buried some 100 meters beneath a mountain. Even America’s most powerful bunker busting bomb, can only destroy up to 60 meters. Also, an issue that Rabbi Goldstein did not bring up is whether Israel could launch a nuclear strike against Iran. It is not certain that Israel has nuclear weapons.

The current situation leads to the unavoidable conclusion that Israel must pursue a multilateral approach. It is facing threats from all sides. Iran is and has stoked a “ring of fire” around Israel. Israel is in a low-grade war with Hezbollah in the north (which might become major), it was forced to attack the Houthis in Yemen, and approaching 11 months now, it is in an existential struggle with Hamas in the Gaza Strip.

Israel is multilaterally attacking Iran and her proxies. Within the past few weeks Israel assassinated Fuad Shukr, a top Hezbollah commander, and shortly after, Ismail Haniyeh, the Hamas Politburo chief, was blown up in Tehran, Iran. These two assassinations produced a situation where Iran and Hezbollah together declared that they would launch a major destructive attack on Israel – and a possible target could be Tel Aviv. This of course would provoke a major regional war.

President Joseph Biden and Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin have announced as they did on Oct. 7, the day of Hamas’ heinous attack on Israel, that American naval power and air power were moving to positions in the Eastern Mediterranean and Red Sea, to defend Israel. Recep Tayyip Erdogan, president of Turkey, a member of NATO, threatened to invade Israel with Turkish troops, because of his support for Hamas and against the assassination of Ismail Haniyeh. Of course, the United States has an airbase in Turkey, Incirlik Air Base, so Erdogan was bragging. The Turkish response is mentioned, because it adds to the array of hatred against Israel, and it reinforces the point that Israel needs to be multilateral in her outlook with the consolidation of threat against her. Which brings us to Hamas and the Gaza War.  America is striving mightily to arrange a cease-fire between Israel and Hamas. America has made the diplomatic argument to Iran and Hezbollah, that a cease-fire in Gaza would render moot the rationale for them to attack Israel.

Hamas, as of this writing, just turned down the current cease-fire proposal, blaming “American dictates” and conditions set by Netanyahu, which are IDF troops remaining at the Philadelphi Corridor on Gaza’s border with Egypt, and the Netzarim Corridor across the middle of Gaza. However, Netanyahu has now agreed to a new American bridging proposal, indicating flexibility, so a cease-fire is still in play. Netanyahu made clear that the redemption of the hostages is a supreme mission of the State of Israel. However, in the light of the recent discovery that six of them have already been murdered by Hamas, public opinion in Israel could well force his hand to become more compromising about negotiating that cease-fire.

MOSES MORDECAI TWERSKY of Providence has a Master’s degree in American history from Providence College. His novel “Love Story in Greenwich Village: New York Iranian Adventure,” was published in January 2021 by Omniscriptum and is available from Amazon and other booksellers.